Chapter 18 Part 1: Asking around

Please read this at BloomingTranslation blog. Anywhere else is reposting our translations without or consent T^T

Jiang second miss’s birth mother, Ye Zhen Zhen, had married into Jiang family for no less than three years, but it was only after Jiang Yuan Bai’s tongfang1 gave birth to his eldest shu daughter that she conceived Jiang Li. A pity, Ye Zhen Zhen’s life was not good. After giving birth to Jiang Li, her health deteriorated day after day and left after half a year. Jiang Yuan Bai considered finding someone to take care of the young girl, so not long after he took Ji Shuran to enter the door as his wife.  

The original courtyard where Ye Zhen Zhen used for recuperating was precisely this Fang Fei Garden.

Jiang Yuan Bai was a scholar. However, as a scholar, he had great ambitions and climbed up for power, and his literati’s natural pedantic character was also a bit polluted. For example, Jiang Yuan Bai was fond of flaunting his noble and virtuous character, but didn’t like vulgarity. Ye Zhen Zhen was born from a merchant family and always liked prosperous and lively things. So when growing flowers, she wanted those splendid and beautiful flowers. Yet Jiang Yuan Bai liked things like pure white lotus and green jade bamboo. 

Ji Shuran was able to adapt and her means were acting gentle, graceful and subdued. Thus she disdained going to this Fang Fei Garden. Now that Jiang Li returned home, whether it was intentionally or not, she gave the courtyard where her birth mother recuperated to her. 

The deeper they went in, the worse the place looked. In the first branch, this courtyard was the most remote and separated courtyard, far away from other sisters and brothers. No need to even mention Old Madam Jiang and Jiang Yuan Bai. Naturally, it wouldn’t be close to them. Yet, to reside in her birth mother’s recuperating courtyard, would Jiang second miss felt longing or perhaps upset or even go as far as become furious?  

Tong’er worries disappeared when she saw Jiang Li’s actions.

Jiang Li didn’t seem distressed, also didn’t seem angry. Aside from being startled when she saw the three characters Fang Fei Garden, afterward, she had always shown an undisturbed expression. Sun momo was completely astonished and immediately left after hurriedly explaining in a few sentences. 

Only Jiang Li and Tong’er remained in the room. Since they had returned to Jiang residence, Yu Xiang had also returned to Chengde Minister’s residence, to Madam Liu’s side. Before leaving, Jiang Li had entrusted Yu Xiang to send her gratitude to Madam Liu. She would personally go to visit and express her thanks on another day.

The room could still be regarded as clean. Although Ye Zhen Zhen had previously instructed the people to plant various kinds of flowers and plants on Fang Fei Garden, this courtyard had currently been abandoned for so many years, so apart from having removed the weeds, the rest had grown wild so this big garden looked especially desolate.  

Tong’er looked at Jiang Li and hesitated for a while. Still, she opened her mouth to ask: “Young lady, does your heart feel uncomfortable?”

“This courtyard is very good.” Jiang Li looked in all directions, “very big and very peaceful.” She didn’t seem to take Tong’er’s apprehension to heart. Rather, when she saw the abandoned decorative flower bed, she thought seriously for a moment before speaking: “Because there weren’t any flowers before, there are little wild plants all around. But it’s okay, we have stayed in Mount Qingcheng for a few years so we are very familiar with looking after flowers and plants. One of these days, go and find some flower seeds for us to plant in the garden. It will be more lively in the days to come.”     

Tong’er listened and was happy, “Young lady’s words are right. We planted grains while in Mount Qingcheng, flowers and plants are all the same kind. This garden is so big, if we grow flowers here, it will definitely look very good.” She felt ever since Jiang Li had the thrilling experience of falling into the water and survived, since she awoke, she had become more tolerant day by day. Perhaps, it really was Marquis Ningyuan’s matter that had stimulated Jiang Li. Nowadays, Jiang Li’s behavior followed the rules and regulations, her resolution strong. This was probably what old man Chang had said before, “broken then rise again”.

“Our coming days will be like this garden, blossoming. Day by day will be lively. Day by day will be good.” Tong’er said sincerely.

Jiang Li laughed. She wanted to grow flowers in the garden, not due to the scenery, also wasn’t because she wished her life would be brimming with hope. Rather, she did these things to attract other people and make them pay attention. Let people know that Jiang second miss wasn’t someone who could be thrown away in a corner to pile up dust and be forgotten. 

Just like growing flowers, the matters that followed would also be done this way. 

She wasn’t prepared to be an unknown honorable young lady.

In the evening, Fang Fei Garden became lively. Earlier, Ji Shuran arranged for a dressmaker to come over to measure Jiang Li for clothes. In the doorway of the Jiang residence at noon before, the words Jiang Li spoke in the presence of everyone, no matter how, Ji Shuran wasn’t able to revert them. In order to show that this stepmother was magnanimous and retrieve the shattered image, Ji Shuran naturally had to put down some effort and made a few really luxurious clothes for Jiang Li. 

Not only that, Ji Shuran also sent a small box of jewelry. Old madam Jiang also sent someone to deliver some silvers over. Compared to jewelry, the silver that old madam Jiang sent was actually more practical. At this time, Jiang Li had nothing in her hand, no silver at all. At this Jiang residence, she couldn’t send anyone out to handle matters.

Jiang Yuan Bai also came for a while and saw that Fang Fei Garden’s layout could still be regarded as satisfactory and nodded his head. He spoke a few words, but both the father and daughter felt, after not meeting for many years, that their feelings were quite weak, and he left soon. 

Waiting until the time where the lamps were lit up, the two servant girls that Ji Shuran was going to send, Xiang Qiao and Yun Shuang, finally came.

These two were the servant girls said by Ji Shuran to be “sensible and clever”, at this moment, were standing in front of Jiang Li and paying their respects to her. 

Although not often, sometimes Lime leaves a sentence halfway and I need to translate the rest of it  How tired must she be for this to happen? 

Footnotes:

1: tongfang or bedwarmer is basically a bed servant, they’re just servants so they have no title, might be elevated to concubine if they give birth to a child. Young masters were usually given tongfangs when they were still young to learn the ‘ways of the bedchamber’ way before they married

Chapter 18 Part 2: Asking around

Please read this at BloomingTranslation blog. Anywhere else is reposting our translations without or consent T^T

The servants that Ji Shuran sent could only be Jiang Li’s close-knit servants. These two were wearing much more expensive clothes than Tong’er, especially Xiang Qiao. The bracelet on her wrist was actually pure gold, it was so bright and lustrous.  

Although Yun Shuang was paying respect, her eyes showed arrogance. Her actions when she paid respect were also careless. She probably felt that Jiang Li was just a miss with no power. Even if she had returned home, at the moment, Ji Shuran was the one in charge of the affairs in the whole residence. Sooner or later, this miss would not have a good ending. She didn’t even try to pretend. 

Xiang Qiao was shrewd and her mouth was sweet. Her eyeballs incessantly turned around the small box full of jewelry that Ji Shuran had sent reverently, as if she was looking at Ji Shuran herself.

Regardless of the shapes and forms, after all, they were the people sent by Ji Shuran to watch her. Jiang Li only took a glance at the expressions and movements of these two people. She could already sort of understand the character of these two people.

Yun Shuang held herself high and looked down on people, Xiang Qiao was an opportunist who was greedy and liked money. Both were small-minded people. Although they weren’t her own people, it didn’t necessarily mean that she couldn’t use them.

Towards these two people, no matter how Tong’er looked at them, they were not pleasing to the eye and she displayed her dislike on her face. 

Jiang Li waved her hands and spoke: “There’s nothing to do here. Xiang Qiao, you stay behind to tell me what’s the current situation in the residence. Yun Shuang, you can go out first.”

Yun Shuang was eager to leave as soon as possible and promptly agreed while Xiang Qiao stayed behind. Jiang Li let her sit yet Xiang Qiao didn’t dare to.

After Xiang Qiao declined her invitation to sit down, Jiang Li opened the small box containing jewelry that Ji Shuran gave her. From inside, she fished out a ruby dragonfly hairpin and stuffed it into Xiang Qiao’s hand. She spoke: “I just returned to the residence, so I have to rely on Xiang Qiao jiejie. Xiang Qiao jiejie, share with me the situations in the residence, ok?”

Xiang Qiao swallowed her saliva. She was supposed to decline but the hairpin with the precious stone felt heavy in her hand and she was unable to decline.

It was enough if Jiang second miss didn’t shoot, once she shot, the lure made people incapable of refusing. Who would be able to resist?  

After thinking for a while, Xiang Qiao arrived at a thought. It seemed like second miss was someone without any brain. Since now she would be waiting by second miss’s side, as long as she could make second miss happy, then wouldn’t she be able to earn money every day? As for talking about the residence’s situation, anyway, there were no clever people by Jiang Li’s side.

Wasn’t she also still relying on herself to tell what’s happening? This way, she didn’t betray the madam, and still would get two parts of silver. 

After thinking, Xiang Qiao was happy and spoke: “Second miss shouldn’t say it like this. It’s this servant’s duty to explain to you…….”However, she didn’t release her grasp on the hairpin. 

Tong’er anxiously tweaked her ears and scratched her cheeks1. This Xiang Qiao clearly had bad intentions, yet Jiang Li actually gave her such a generous reward. The person was not worth it, but looking at the present Jiang Li, she was evidently listening carefully to what Xiang Qiao said.

Xiang Qiao spoke vigorously until her mouth was dry. Seeing how Jiang Li listened to her attentively, she couldn’t help feeling proud. She seemed to be talking meticulously but, in fact, for most part, she only talked about the second and third branch. While for the first branch, Madam’s side, she didn’t even divulge a bit. This second miss was also foolish, actually believing without any doubt at all. Just by saying a few insignificant words she already got a precious hairpin. What a hard-to-come-by fantastic matter.

After talking for half a day, there was nothing else she could talk about. Xiang Qiao said: “Replying to second miss, this is the current state of affairs in the residence.”

Jiang Li seemed entranced when Xiang Qiao stopped. She appeared to still wish to continue listening. After thinking, she replied: “Since there’s nothing else to say about the residence, then tell me some interesting stories from outside the residence, ok?”  

“From outside the residence?” Xiang Qiao stared blankly.

“Yes, exactly what interesting things have been happening in Yanjing in recent years? I heard the old madam of Rong Xin Ling passed away three years ago. I remember when I was small, she gave me a double-sided embroidery of the Goddess of Mercy. Also, I heard Yu Xiang jiejie mention Yanjing’s first beauty. Her husband was also the latest top scorer in the palace examination. I heard she died of illness a few days ago, is that true?”

 

------ Author’s ramblings------

The original host, soft2 and girly, was the result of a lack of family education during childhood. In the process of growing up, she didn’t receive proper guidance. As a result, there’s a bit of flaw in her disposition. While the current “Li” was different as her family was very wholesome and happy. The slag she encountered in her previous life was also encountered after she got married. So “Li’s” disposition wasn’t gloomy. On the contrary, she was very wise and farsighted, warm, and she was also a young lady with a feeling of righteousness. 

The person with a character defect in this book is the male lead. Unusually cold, vicious and merciless gloomy evil king.  

However, this type of cruelty was particularly special and tough to train ah, right? Training a big bad wolf and turning it into a loyal dog has a very satisfying feeling, isn’t it? 

Right!

Coming from Cha Cha’s evil interest. [smile]  (Cha Cha is nickname of the author)

Why speak about ML if he probably won’t appear anytime soon ah >.< Enjoy the extra chap for Valentine’s, the regular chapter on Sunday will probably be posted with delay cuz I need to prepare for a test on Monday, so you can probably expect it between Monday and Tuesday…  (but worry not, Lime says that after this chap things are gonna get exciting ^^)

Footnotes:

1: 抓耳挠腮 (zhuā’ěrnáosāi) : to tweak one’s ears and scratch one’s cheeks (as an expression of anxiety, delight, frustration etc) (idiom).

2: 软妹 ruǎnmèi: “软” means “soft,” and “妹” means younger sister. Originating from a popular Chinese animation show “I Am MT,” the term is often used by netizens to refer to young women with a gentle disposition, a soft voice, and a slender figure. Usually these women wear straight long hair, dressed in a very feminine style. Innocent and naive, these kinds of girls are the ideal love interest for homebodies. The opposite of “软妹” can be “女汉子” (tomboy).

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like